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Tamara Bower

Tamara Bower has been fascinated by ancient Egypt since she was a child, when she and her friends dressed up to play as ancient Egyptians. She studied fine art in college, and was trained in archaeological illustration at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she worked as a staff illustrator in the Department of Egyptian Art. She has also served as the technical illustrator for archaeological excavations in Egypt, Turkey, Spain, Belize, and California.

Bower's previous children's book, "How the Amazon Queen Fought the Prince of Egypt" won the ALA Amelia Bloomer Award for Nonfiction Picture Books, the Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award, and the Africana Book Award for Young Children.

She lives in New York City.

Tamara Bower     

Résumé

Archaeological Illustration

 

 

*FIELDWORK

 

            Abydos, Egypt                  

                  Osiris Temple Project

                  Michelle Marlar, Field Director

                  January - March, 2013

 

           San Ignacio, Belize            

                  Cahal Pech

                  Jaime Awe, Field Director

                  June - July, 2012

           

            Abydos, Egypt                  

                  Abydos Votive Zone

                  Mary-Ann Pouls-Wegner, Field Director

                  June - July, 2011

 

            Abydos, Egypt

                   Monuments of Ahmose

                   Steve Harvey, Field Director

                   Stony Brook University

                   March – May, 2009

           

            Abydos, Egypt

                   Monuments of Ahmose

                   Steve Harvey, Field Director

                   University of Chicago

                   November – December, 2006

 

             Venta Micena, Andalusia, Spain

                   Josep Gilbert, Director

                   September, 2003

                   On the Thomas Scalise Artist Fellowship, Earthwatch

 

            Cadir Hoyuk, Sorgun Province, Turkey

                  Ron Gorney, Director

                  July - August, 2001

           

            Abydos, Egypt

                   Monuments of Senwosret III

                   Joseph Wegner, Field Director

                   University of Pennsylvania/Yale University               

                   May - August, 1997                     

 

            Abydos, Egypt                  

                  Monuments of Thutmose III

                  Mary-Ann Pouls, Field Director

                  University of Pennsylvania/Yale University                     

                  March - May 1997

 

            Abydos, Egypt

                  Monuments of Ahmose

                  Steve Harvey, Field Director

                  University of Pennsylvania/Yale University                                        

                  February - April 1996

 

            Cahuilla Indian Rock Art Sites Inventory        

                  San Bernardino National Forest

                  Mount San Jacinto, California.

                  Daniel McCarthy, Forest Archaeologist

                  June 1995 

           

 

* STAFF ILLUSTRATOR

 

            The Brooklyn Museum of Art

                  Dept. of Egyptian, Classical, and

                  Ancient Middle Eastern Art

                  Richard Fazzini, Chairman

                  February 1993 - March 1997

 

            The Metropolitan Museum of Art

                  Department of Egyptian Art

                  Dieter Arnold, Curator

                   April - July, 1992             

 

 

*AWARDS

 

            Thomas Scalise Artist Fellowship, Earthwatch Institute.

            For excavation in Venta Micena, Spain

 

 

*PUBLISHED DRAWINGS 

           

            The Decorated Elite Mastaba and Rock-cut Tomb in the Eastern and GIS Cemeteries at Giza and their Relationship to the Development of Art during the Forth Dynasty. by Laurel Flentye. Ph.D. dissertation, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University

 

            Institutional Patronage and Social Commemoration in Theban Tomb Painting during the Reigns of Thutmose IV (1419-1410 BC) and Amenhotep III (1410-1382 BC) by Melinda Hartwig Ph.D. dissertation, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 2000

 

            A Muraqqa for Murad III (r. 1574-95) by Aimee Froome, Ph.D. dissertation, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University 2000

                                                           

            The Cults of King Ahmose at Abydos. by Stephen P Harvey, PhD. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1998.

 

            Essay by Donald Spanel in

            Festscrift for William Kelly Simpson 

            Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 1997

 

             The Dynamics of Power in an Age of Transition: Mortuary Remains from Tell El Far’ah South, Israel by Susan Braunstein. Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University. 1997

 

            “The Underground Panels of King Djoser at the Step Pyramid Complex” in Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, Vol. XXXII 1995 by Florence Friedman Page 13 figure 8b 

 

            “A Painted Fragment From the Tomb of D’w at Dier el Gebrawi” in Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt     

Vol. XXXI, 1995 by James F. Romano. Curator, Brooklyn Museum of Art, and Gay Robins, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. Pages 21 - 32 Figures 7 & 8.

 

            Tumbas Reales de Sipan Gallery Guide, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY  1994.

 

            Egyptian Gallery Guides, Brooklyn Museum of Art, NY 1994

           

            “Non-royal Funerary Figurines of the Post-Amarna Period from Deir el-Medina”  by Donald Spanel, Assistant Curator, Brooklyn Museum (Forthcoming)

 

 

*POPULAR BOOKS           

 

The Mummy-Makers of Egypt 

      Written and illustrated by Tamara Bower

      Seven Stories Press, 2015

 

How the Amazon Queen Fought the Prince of Egypt                     

       Written and illustrated by Tamara Bower

       Simon & Schuster, 2005

 

        Awards: Africana Book Award for Young Children, 2006

        ALA Amelia Bloomer Award for Nonfiction Picture Book, 2005

        BCCB –  Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award 2005

        Review: New York Times, 2005, “Pyramid Schemes” by Meg Wolitzer

        Review: Sankofa: A Journal of African Children's and Young Adult Literature, 2006, by Alexandra O’Brien

 

The Shipwrecked Sailor, An Egyptian Tale with Hieroglyphs

         Written and illustrated by Tamara Bower

          Simon & Schuster, 2000

 

*EDUCATION           

           

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE

      Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art: Drawing & Painting, 1979

 

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LONG BEACH

        Drawing and Painting, 1976 - 1977

 

 

Tamara at top, 10 years old,

with friends in Egyptian costumes.

Tamara working on excavation in Abydos, Egypt.

Tamara working on excavation in Abydos, Egypt.

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